Hollis Brookline High School has implemented a yearbook class this year after years of having only a club. A class ensures that students who chose to join the yearbook staff have time during the school day to work on it. Mrs. Jordan Cormier, the yearbook teacher, was questioned about why the yearbook evolved from a club to a class. She replied that with the amount of responsibility that running and publishing a yearbook took, this was an easier way to fit it into the schedule of students. With the amount of work and effort it takes, it should be worth a graduating credit.

“Students should really be the ones running the show,” Cormier said. It is important that students must be involved, especially the seniors, as it is their last yearbook and final school memories being published.

The students in the yearbook class are grouped up to work on assignments and split up the coverage of various clubs and events. They are assigned page groups by interests and connections. Football player Adam York was given responsibility for the football spread on the sports pages. They are working in their groups to collect photographs from the year’s events to meet their publishing deadlines.

The class is working on making the yearbook a better edition than the 2021-2022 yearbook. They work with other departments in the school to get information correct and are utilizing school resources to the best of their abilities. They will be checking with the guidance office to confirm the correct names and the sports coaches will double-check the sports sections.

“We strive for a better yearbook through collective group work,” said Christian Bourgeois ‘23, a yearbook student. He recently visited rehearsal for the school play to collect snapshots for the yearbook. Not only are the students covering school-affiliated events, but they are also getting photo coverage of events outside of school that students attend, such as Old Home Days. Bourgeois is currently working on collecting photographs and quotes from students and teachers for our Halloween spirit week. Students strive for at least a hundred photos per activity or event and will later sift through them to select the best ones.

They are not just learning about how to take photographs. The class is learning with Cormier about formatting a yearbook and presenting one, along with all the other work that goes into it. They are learning how to make formatting look appealing to the eye, how to incorporate themes visually with text and how to engage an audience. They have had representatives from Jostens, the yearbook company the school uses, come in to talk to the class and teach them about formatting and deadlines. Although the end of the school year seems far away now, there is a lot of work that needs to be done to make their printing deadlines.

Yearbook class is also learning how to organize schedules so that at least one student can cover each event. When no student from the class can attend, that is where the club steps in. Yearbook Club was formed to have extra eyes at events and to take photographs for the yearbook when the class is unable.

Katelyn Seamonds ‘23, a yearbook student, hopes that by having an entire class of students working on it they will create something that will reflect the student population. The class made a social media account on Instagram so that they can ask students what they want in their yearbook as a way to get their community involved. This helps students to be involved in the process of making their yearbook. Seamonds encourages students to send photos for the yearbook to the account. The yearbook account username is @hbyearbook2023 on Instagram.

“I am very confident in my classmates and I that we’re going to have a really good yearbook this year. We all care a lot about our senior yearbook,” said Seamonds.

The theme for the 2022-2023 yearbook will be released today, Friday, October 28, at the spirit assembly.